Kieran Healy: “I look forward to more detailed explanations of who the Real Victim is here, and more fine-grained elaboration of the criteria — other than “marvelous dinner guest” — for being issued a Get Out of Child Rape Free card.”

Scott Lemieux: “The fact that the victim forgives Polanski doesn’t give him a license to skip out on his punishment.”

Amanda Marcotte: “I tend to have a negative view of doggedly pursuing a criminal decades after the crime, but there are exceptions. In this case, I think that that the pressing need to send the message that fame and fortune doesn’t give you a free pass to rape is worth the resources and effort put on bringing him in.”

Sady Doyle on rape culture and liking the artistic output of someone who happens to be a rapist.

These days everyone is talking about how colleges and universities can cut down on rape on their campuses. But likely the single most important way to end violence on campus is to start talking about it long before — in middle and high school.

Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) and Alma Adams (D-N.C.) have introduced the Teach Safe Relationships Act, which amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and would require schools to teach students about safe relationships as part of sex education.

These days everyone is talking about how colleges and universities can cut down on rape on their campuses. But likely the single most important way to end violence on campus is to start talking about it long ...

At every turn, it seems, we pour ever more time and energy into figuring out new ways to teach women old lessons about how to not get raped.

And yesterday, that tactic yielded an exciting result. Canadian researchers found that a new “rape resistance” program lowered first-year female college students’ likelihood of being sexually assaulted. The one-year risk of rape for women who completed the resistance program was 5%, compared to 10% for women in the control group. That’s an impressive finding, and I’m curious what we do with it.

Led by survivors Melissa Vasquez, Lexi Weyrick, and Alejandra Melgoza, the student activists staged an eight-hour sit-in yesterday that led to negotiations lasting well into the night. They demanded that UCSB fulfill its basic legal obligations: provide mandatory consent education, separate perpetrators from victims in university housing and work spaces, and offer free services and accommodations, like medical care and academic tutoring, to help survivors stay in school.